Tyler Lee & The Wizarding World Of NYC
by Datura Borgin
Summary: Tyler Lee has lived in NYC for two years, and has finally convinced her cousin and fellow Thunderbird alumnus Teagan to move in with her. Tyler is Muggleborn and Teagan is half-blood, and the girls straddle the line between the wizarding world and Muggle society. [Present day slice of life Ilvermorny graduates story, will eventually contain romance and action/adventure.]
1. Teagan Moves In

**_**Monday, September 13th, 2018**_**

It was ten past eight in the evening, and Tyler Lee was waiting impatiently for a group of Muggles to leave the oddities store where she worked. Usually, the store's traffic died down around seven, and she was able to lock up right at closing time. But tonight, the gaggle of obvious and oblivious tourists were still ooh-ing and eww-ing on the second floor right above Tyler. She was becoming increasingly tempted to pull out her wand and Imperius them into leaving, though she knew she was completely incapable of casting an Unforgivable curse in reality.

Tyler couldn't blame them for lingering in the engrossing room though; the entire floor was filled with perfectly preserved butterflies and insects in wood frames, bleached animal skeletons posed in bell jars, and bizarre taxidermy. Tyler's favorite piece was a baby cow with two heads, even though it was very unnerving to look at. She could tell the Muggles had just sighted it, judging by their sudden shrieks of disgust followed by sympathetic comments for the poor deformed animal.

In a matter of seconds, the group came down the stairs and left right away, without so much of a glance at Tyler. She smirked and locked up instantly. But rather than wasting time walking to the door, Tyler had pulled out her long ebony wand and held it under the counter. She silently drew the shop's curtains, locked the door, then walked into the back room to apparate home.

After a year working at the Muggle shop, Tyler had been promoted to key holder, which meant she was free of her omnipresent manager and trusted to work alone most nights. She felt extremely lucky, as it meant she didn't have to walk all the way to the SoHo alleys just to apparate home, or Merlin forbid, to ride the subway back to Brooklyn with one of her overly friendly Muggle coworkers. The train trip from Manhattan to Brooklyn was forty minutes long with two line transfers, and the walk from the nearest station to Tyler's apartment was nearly half a mile. Being able to pop right from the work to her bedroom felt like an incredible privilege, after almost a year of being a heavily supervised sales associate.

Tyler's apartment building in the Bedstuy neighborhood was a huge warehouse, occupied solely by witches and wizards. Though the warehouse was visible to Muggles, every doorknob was enchanted to stay locked, unless turned by a tenant.

The building had barely been updated for human habitation, but Tyler found the bare brick walls, high ceilings, and rusted fire escapes charming. Plus, it meant the rent was relatively low, affordable enough for her to have scored a large apartment in the burgeoning neighborhood.

Tyler apparated into in her living room and laid down on the couch in front of her fireplace to wait. In just forty five minutes, her cousin Teagan was scheduled to Floo in to move into one of Tyler's extra rooms.

Unlike Tyler, who was Muggle-born, Teagan was a half-blood witch who had grown up with one foot in the wizarding world and the other in Muggle society. Though the girls were technically pretty distant relatives as fifth cousins, Tyler and Teagan had grown up having frequent playdates and sleepovers, and and they had already bonded before starting school. The girls had both been sorted into Thunderbird, where they grew even closer despite being a year apart.

After two years of persistent badgering, Tyler had finally convinced Teagan to ditch LA for NYC. She was half asleep when her cousin finally appeared with a large set of luggage in tow.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Teagan said as she rolled her luggage out of the fireplace. "My friends forced me to go to one last happy hour, they wouldn't let me get away..."

"Don't worry about it," Tyler said, sitting up and stretching, "I don't work tomorrow." She got to her feet to help Teagan, counting ten suitcases of various sizes as she did so. "Ten pieces, really?" Tyler teased. "How is that even necessary?"

"I couldn't convince my parents to buy me an Extended set," Teagan grumbled, "so I had to charm them myself. I didn't quite manage to get them large enough though..."

"At least they're Lightened," said Tyler. "Come on, I cleared out your room." She pulled out her wand to levitate the luggage above them, and led Teagan to the bedroom furthest down the hallway.

"Okay, I think I'm going to get the furniture out of the trunk first," Teagan said. She paused, looking around the room as she contemplated where to place everything. Then she stuck half her body in the Extended trunk, squinting in the darkness as she located her bed. Teagan Vanished it, then pulled herself back out of the trunk. "Should I put my bed in the corner or center it?" she asked Tyler.

"Definitely put it the corner, then plan everything around it," Tyler said. "The room looks big now, but even the bigger apartments have small bedrooms here. The landlord will hike the rent up a lot if you ask for an Extension, too," she added.

Teagan grumbled something about having brought too much stuff. She pointed her wand to the far corner and brought the bed back into nonbeing. The cousins spent nearly an hour arranging and rearranging furniture until they had mastered the jigsaw puzzle of a room. Finally satisfied, Tyler and Teagan sat on the bed to relax.

"So, when do you start at MACUSA?" Tyler asked. Teagan sighed heavily.

"Ugh, next Monday. They wanted me to come in last week, but I lied and told them I couldn't be here until Sunday," the red headed witch replied.

"Perfect," Tyler said mischievously, "we've got a lot of adventuring to do first. I've already made up an excuse for my Muggle job this week, and I took paid time off at the clothing shop. Plus, I've got a show in the Lower East Side on Thursday night. You're coming, no excuses."

"Duh," Teagan laughed. "What else would I do?" she said, playfully poking Tyler in the ribs. "Is it with Glitterblood or is it your solo set?"

"Glitterblood died a few months ago," Tyler said bitterly. "Not to be a misandrist or anything, but I'm done trying to play with dudes. I'm seriously sick of being talked down to, having them passively aggressively critique my melodies and vocals, and dealing with them constantly trying to change the sound of the songs that _I_ came to _them_ with. Not the other way around." Tyler huffed and crossed her arms indignantly.

"Fair," Teagan said, "That sucks though, I'm sorry. I liked you guys, even though yeah, they were douchebags."

"It's fine. I own 100% of all the copyrights, so they can go fuck themselves, they're mine and they're never going to see a Knut of royalties ever again," Tyler said. "I'm over it, almost. I'm going to get a better backing band and play the Glitterblood songs along with my personal stuff," Tyler smirked.

"Damn right," Teagan said, and the girls both giggled. "Hell, I'll play bass."

"Really?" Tyler said with surprise. "I didn't know you could played any instruments, I thought you just sang."

"I don't play," Teagan said with a wry smile. "But neither did Kim Deal when she joined Pixies, and they're still touring like, thirty years after Surfer Rosa came out."

"Alright, good point," Tyler said. "My new stuff is pretty scrappy anyways, so it doesn't really matter if you suck."

Teagan rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever, bass is like the easiest instrument to learn. I bet if I got one this week, I'd be decent in a month."

"I'll take that bet," Tyler said. "I'll buy you one tomorrow, and if you still suck in December, you have to pay me back, __and__ buy me a new guitar. If you don't, you're in."

"Deal," Teagan said, grinning with a glint in her eyes.

"Hey," Tyler said, pointing directly in Teagan's face. "I know that look. No cheating. No Animation charms. I'm going to cast Finite on the bass every time we practice."

"I wasn't going to cheat," Teagan said with mock offense. "Pinky swear," she said, and Tyler hooked her finger in Teagan's. Tyler yawned, and Teagan said, "Go to bed. I'm still on LA time, I'll be wired for hours. But wake me up when you're ready to take me exploring."

"Will do," Tyler said, yawning again as she stood up. "See you bright and early," she joked. They both knew Tyler never woke up before noon if she didn't have to. After saying goodnight, she headed to her bedroom, flopped down on the bed, and passed out still wearing her work clothes.


	2. The Williamsburg Cluster

_**Tuesday, September 14th, 2018**_

Tyler and Teagan were on the northbound G train, waiting for it to start moving again. The subway had been stopped for at least fifteen minutes, and the pre-recorded updates that played periodically were irritatingly vague. Teagan kept looking around the train car, clearly growing anxious the longer they were stopped. The Muggles surrounding them barely reacted; only a few of them even looked annoyed or inconvenienced.

"Don't you know a spell for this sort of thing by now?" Teagan asked, whispering in Tyler's ear. "This is the worst, I hate you for making me do this."

"It's a Brooklynite rite of passage," Tyler sniggered. "Besides, what would you expect me to do, animate the train to keep going, possibly crashing it into the train in front of us? Disapparate in front of a bunch of Muggles?"

Teagan sighed dramatically. As if on cue, the train finally moved.

"See, stop being a baby," Tyler said, jabbing Teagan in the ribs teasingly. "Besides, the L train sucks even more, so toughen up, buttercup." Teagan scowled the entire time they walked to the other subway line and endured the twenty minute ride.

They finally disembarked at the Bedford Avenue stop, and Teagan was visibly shaken by the time they resurfaced to street level. "That was horrible, I'm never taking the subway again, you can't make me," she said, sounding traumatized.

"It's not that bad," Tyler laughed. "Besides, we can apparate between the cluster and the SoHo alleys." They walked a winding path toward the East River that separated Brooklyn and Manhattan.

As they went, they weaved through a bustling mass of hipster Muggles, until they finally reached a relatively empty area near a few deserted buildings. Tyler led Teagan through a narrow alleyway, until they were stopped by a wall. She glanced back at the alley's entrance as she pulled out her wand, then turned back to the wall and tapped it four times.

The bricks disappeared immediately, and Tyler grabbed Teagan's hand, almost leaping into the street. The passageway quickly closed itself, nearly pinching Teagan's heel.

"This entrance sucks," Tyler said. "Sorry, should have mentioned that the wall reforms right after you walk through."

"Yep, you definitely should have," Teagan said. Tyler grinned as she led Teagan towards the first intersection.

"So, this is the Williamsburg cluster. It's technically one of the city's alleys, but it's really more like a neighborhood, same as the SoHo and Chinatown alleys," Tyler said. They walked through the middle of a wide walkway, as the streets were completely devoid of cars. Other witches and walked past Teagan and Tyler quickly, giving them both dirty looks for walking so slowly. "Ugh, you'll get used to practically sprinting here. People get pissed if you don't walk like, thirty miles an hour." Teagan giggled and the two witches picked up their pace.

They went in and out of Tyler's favorite spots as they went; a restaurant that served exclusively chicken and waffles, an eccentric haberdashery that was just plain fun to look through, a two story pet store full of cats, snakes and owls, and a pretty pastel shop dedicated solely to beauty potions. When they reached the end of the street, Tyler led Teagan into a clothing store with beautiful robes on the mannequins in the window.

"This is Lark's Trunk, my main job," Tyler said as they walked in.

Teagan stopped at the door, staring at the store, which was much larger than it looked on the outside. She noticed it stocked new, vintage, and custom dress robes, in addition to a huge selection of Muggle style clothing. Teagan browsed slowly as her cousin walked up to the counter. She couldn't help but gape as she took in all the immaculately tailored robes and dresses.

"Oh good, Tyler, I've got last week's check for you," said a blonde witch with silvery blonde hair. She walked to the antique register and opened it, picking up the money tray and grabbing an small drawstring bag full of coins.

"Thank you," Tyler said in a sing-song voice, peeking in the heavy pouch before tucking it in her purse. "Lark, this is my cousin Teagan, Teagan Byrne. She just moved here last night, she's from LA," said Tyler. "Teagan, this is the owner, Lark Borgin."

Lark extended her hand to shake Teagan's. "Lovely to meet you," Lark said charmingly. "I adore that top," she said, looking Teagan over approvingly.

"Thanks," Teagan said, sounding slightly taken aback by the glamorous designer's compliment. "Your shop is amazing," Teagan reciprocated.

"Have another look around," said Lark. "Find something you like, I'll give you the family discount. Free ninety free," Lark winked.

Teagan's mouth dropped and she turned around to stare back at the store. "No, I couldn't," she said, as she had glanced at quite a few price tags already.

"Look through the ones Tyler up-cycled, then," Lark suggested. "All the pieces with moving prints are vintage pieces she mended and charmed."

"I'm super new at it," Tyler said quickly, her face flushing red. "I haven't done very many, it's okay if you don't like any of them..."

"Nonsense, they're brilliant. Take anything you like, Teagan." Lark said. "I'll still pay your commission," Lark said to Tyler. Tyler suppressed a smirk, thrilled by the prospect of extra cash for her week off work.

Teagan picked out a tea length robe, designed to go over mid-length dresses or longer skirts. At first glance, the garment appeared to be made of entirely ordinary material. The fabric was a grey velvet flocked with a black damask pattern composed of bats, peacocks and deer. But when Teagan moved, the animals animated; all of the bats fluttered up to hang upside down on her shoulders, the peacocks' tail feathers flashed with iridescence, and the deer leapt from one side of robe to the other. Teagan admired it in the mirror, and picked it without trying on another.

"I had no idea you did this," Teagan said to Tyler, as Lark took the garment from her and walked back behind the counter.

"It's only been a couple of months," Tyler mumbled. Lark wrapped the robe in tissue paper and gave it back to Teagan in a bag, before opening the register to hand Tyler a handful of Galleons.

"Stop being modest Tyler. It's truly impressive charm work, particularly for someone your age," Lark said. "We've got an article in _Brooklyn Tomorrow_ coming up, it's going to bring a lot of traffic to the store," Lark said, causing Tyler to blush even harder. "Barely anyone bothers with mending anymore, and new prints like this are usually much more expensive."

"Well look at you," Teagan smiled at Tyler. "I would have never guessed."

"Well, don't let me keep you two from your day," Lark said, sensing Tyler's mounting embarrassment. "Teagan, if you ever need work, feel free to get in touch," she offered. Teagan expressed thanks, and the girls waved goodbye as they walked out of the store.

"Wow, so you're not nearly as much of a deadbeat as I thought," Teagan said jokingly, but mingled sincerity and pride crept into her voice. "What else do you do that I don't know about?"

"Not much, honestly," Tyler said. "I'm pretty much barely above a deadbeat, actually. I make more money playing shows than I do from my 'real jobs'," Tyler air-quoted. "I _just_ started making enough money at Lark's to justify all the hours I spend there. Then I work like twenty hours a week at this Muggle shop near the SoHo alleys..."

"Why don't you just look for a job in the alleys themselves? Or by MACUSA?" Teagan interrupted.

"Because it would crush my soul," Tyler said, rolling her eyes. "I'd have no time to write. Plus, I've gone through a lot of jobs in SoHo, and burned _way_ too many bridges. And I will never work in the fucking Chinatown or Little Italy alleys. MACUSA's right above the financial district, that part of the city sucks too, and there are barely any places to work around there, unless you've got an in with one of the shopkeepers."

Teagan didn't say anything as they continued down the street. The girls turned a corner and walked through the farmer's market section, where Herbologists from up and down the east coast gathered to sell their produce. They continued down the street and passed a huge bookstore, a few more clothing stores, and a wand emporium.

"That place sucks," Tyler said, pointing at the wand store. "Worst wandmakers in the entire city. They use kelpie hair, kneazle whisker too. One of my bandmates broke his wand and his cheap ass went and got one there, he ended up replacing it a month later." Tyler laughed at the memory as they reached the end of the street.

"Where do we go from here, back to the entrance?" Teagan asked.

"Nope," Tyler said. "We're Apparating to Manhattan. No more Muggle transportation today, I promise." She hooked her arm in Teagan's. "Get ready," Tyler said with a smile, waiting a few seconds before Disapparating.


End file.
